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Get a quotePotholes can wreck your car – and your insurance
Should you claim with the council instead?
If your car hits a pothole, it can mean paying hundreds in repair costs. And pothole damage is at its peak from January to April, according to insurers.
If you're staring at a bill for damaged shock absorbers or broken suspension springs, you have two basic options if you don't want to pay it all yourself: claim with your insurer or request compensation from the council or organisation responsible for maintaining the road.
Here, we examine your chances of success when claiming with local authorities, and the pros and cons of turning to your insurer instead.
We also name the two insurers that pay out pothole claims without impacting your no-claims bonus and explain why this is important.
Councils unlikely to accept and slow to respond
In theory, getting the council or authority to refund you the costs of the damage should be the most efficient way of resolving an incident caused by poor road maintenance. You're going directly to the responsible party and cutting out the 'middleman'.
Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that seeking recompense from councils is a slow, low-reward process.
Data from an RAC survey of 177 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales last January found that in 2024, only 26% of claims made to councils were settled within a year of being made.
Most claims were rejected, with 97% of councils rejecting 90% of the claims they received.
English county councils compared
A similar analysis conducted by price comparison website Quotezone last December found similarly bleak results.
Between 13 English county councils surveyed in its research, more than 9,000 claims were made for a total of £10.2m in compensation between April 2024 and March 2025. Only £666,712 (6%) was successfully approved for payment.
However, there was wide variation between councils, with Oxfordshire settling 21% of the value of claims made against it. Meanwhile, Leicestershire and Hampshire settled less than 2%.
| Oxfordshire County Council | 20.52% | 34,447 | 1,773 | £763,715 | £156,744 |
| Warwickshire County Council | 19.35% | 6,492 | 408 | £495,591 | £95,918 |
| Nottinghamshire County Council | 16.05% | 24,359 | 633 | £144,250 | £23,146 |
| West Sussex County Council | 15.62% | 32,530 | 792 | £625,197 | £97,654 |
| Cambridgeshire County Council | 14.29% | 16,370 | 1,000 | £799,957 | £114,294 |
| Surrey County Council | 10.14% | 17,737 | 778 | £387,189 | £39,255 |
| Suffolk County Council | 8.99% | 13,599 | 227 | £94,370 | £8,480 |
| East Sussex County Council | 8.64% | 18,282 | 764 | £253,097 | £21,871 |
| Kent County Council | 2.76% | 24,217 | 768 | £903,690 | £24,935 |
| Gloucestershire County Council | 2.62% | 13,743 | 515 | £182,846 | £4,784 |
| Worcestershire County Council | 2.45% | 4,111 | 101 | £34,966 | £856 |
| Leicestershire County Council | 1.50% | 5,203 | 128 | £194,385 | £2,919 |
| Hampshire County Council | 1.41% | 21,957 | 1,464 | £5,393,788 | £75,856 |
| TOTALS | 6.49% | 233,047 | 9,351 | £10,273,040 | £666,712 |
Data source: Quotezone. Quotezone sent Freedom of Information requests to all 21 English county councils, 13 of which responded within the time frame with the full requested information. The costs reported are for vehicle damage only. Results are based on the date the claim was notified to the council and may include multiple reports for the same pothole defect.
Are insurers a better bet?
If you have fully comprehensive car insurance, you're covered for accidental damage to your vehicle and will be able to claim for pothole damage.
While we can't say how outcomes break down specifically for claims due to potholes, in general, car insurers have a better track record of accepting claims than councils. Some 92% of car insurance claimants we surveyed last October told us that their most recent claim had been either fully or partially paid.
However, you'll probably need to stump up some of the cost yourself. When we examined 66 car insurance policies, 59 included a compulsory excess for accidental damage, ranging from £45 to more than £350.
- Find out more: our ratings of 66 car insurance policies.
Impact on your no-claims discount
Claims are typically recorded as 'fault' claims, where there's no other driver (or insurer) involved, and your insurer can pursue for costs.
Making fault claims means you'll lose no-claims discount (NCD) – and our research suggests this is typically the situation where you've claimed because of poor road maintenance.
Of the 66 policies we reviewed, claiming for pothole damage will deplete your NCD with 60 of them (91%).
However, in 22 cases, your NCD will be restored if the insurer can recover its costs from the council or body responsible for maintaining the road. While insurers probably stand a better chance than their customers at chasing councils for costs, success is far from assured.
Only six policies from two of the 25 insurers we surveyed – Aviva and Direct Line – won't cut your NCD for pothole damage.
| Will a pothole claim affect your NCD? | Number of policies | Percentage of policies |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 38 | 58% |
| Yes (unless costs are recovered) | 22 | 33% |
| No | 6 | 9% |
In November 2025, Which? surveyed 25 insurers and analysed 66 of their policies. You can find our full ratings and reviews of each policy in our Best car insurance guide.
Three must-dos if you hit a pothole
Whether you're planning to pursue a pothole claim through the local authority or choose to rely on your insurer, make sure you take these three crucial steps.
- Gather all the evidence you can of what happened. Take photographs of the pothole and the damage to your car, record the precise time and location of the event. If anyone saw what happened, ask if you can take their contact details. The more detailed information you have, the better your chances of a fair outcome.
- Find out who's responsible for maintaining the road. This can vary depending on the type of road and the location where the damage happened. However, you can find this out and other advice on claiming for pothole damage on the government website.
- Report the incident to your insurer. Insurers expect to be notified of incidents, whether you actually proceed to claim with them or not. And, unfortunately, regardless of whether you claim, or do or don't lose your no-claims discount, your premium can still be affected.
- Find out more: learn about no-claims discounts and how insurers compare in our guide.
